


Survive and Thrive

by softkent (SalazarTipton)



Series: Desert Witch Kent Parson [1]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Day Four, Drabble, M/M, Magical Realism, OMGCP 14 Days of Love, Witchcraft, desert witch, love repression, love spells, spells
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-04
Updated: 2017-02-04
Packaged: 2018-09-22 00:41:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9574280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SalazarTipton/pseuds/softkent
Summary: Kent finds a way to stop thinking of Jack after the draft and give himself some much needed hope.Based on this spell (x)





	

**Author's Note:**

> Based loosely from my desert witch kent post ( [x](http://softkent.tumblr.com/post/154429008162/catmomparse-all-this-kitchen-witchbitty-stuff) )

Flower pot? Check.

Soil? Does dirt and sand out from the desert count? If so, check! 

Seed? Check.

Himalayan pink salt? After one confusing trip to the grocery store and a smoothie later, check. 

 

Kent steps out onto the back patio. This city glows nothing like Montreal did. The sky looks pitch black here, but he can still make out the new moon hanging high above him. He smiles at it and gives it a nod before he settles himself on the floor with the pot, salt, soil, and packet of seeds within reach. He opens up his notebook to his latest page. On one side it a spell he’d found online called “Infertile Heart: Love Repression Spell”; on the other page was the thoughts he’d scribbled down this morning to know in the future why he did this--to help him see if it works. 

 

_ It's been a month since the draft. God, it feels like it just happened this morning--the cameras, the Aces, my mom...Bob’s phone call. After everything I should have seen it coming. But jack had been--no. Stop. Can't dwell on that. He doesn't want me in his life so that's that, right? Gotta...gotta move on (even though that fucker couldn't even tell me his damn self).  _

 

_ I never really thought about Las Vegas. I mean, I didn't expect to be going here in the first place, but now that I'm here? It's full of distractions, I'll tell you that much. Aside from when I'm on the ice or going for a run or doing literally anything related to hockey I can almost forget about the drill bit boring a hole through my heart.  _

 

_ Everything's fine until I get back here. At the rink I can push it all aside and just focus on the game, my stick, sound of skates on the ice. Here I've got nothing to keep my mind off him. I really need this to work. I can’t...it just has to work.  _

 

He unzips the plastic bag of red dirt and sand he’d collected on the hike his captain had taken all the rookies on after they’d first gotten to Vegas. Once the little plastic pot is mostly filled with the first, Kent zips the bag back up and sets it behind him. With his teeth, he rips open the blue packet of Forget Me Not seeds and carefully puts on in his palm. 

 

For the first time since the night before the draft, Kent lets all everything wash over him: the soft touches, harsh kisses, words left unspoken, flush of cheeks, that shy smile. He imagines Jack after a goal with a wide smile on his face looking at Kent like that was just for him. He shoves the seed into the dirt with shaking fingers. 

 

As his vision gets blurry from the tears forming, he picks up the jar of pink salt and unscrews the lid. He lets it clatter on the tile by his foot and pours a generous helping into his palm. He thinks about everything he’s accomplished. Kent made it to the NHL. He’s going into his first season of professional hockey. He’s living on his own. His mom never has to worry about picking to pay the electric bill or getting her medication again because he’s there to support her now. Kent did that. Kent is doing all of this. He’s strong. 

 

He thinks of the hike out in the desert with his new teammates. Kent closes his eyes and feels what he felt that day, standing on a rock during a water break. He felt the heat in his bones. The rocks, the cacti, the red dirt that went on forever, the shimmering edge of the horizon--he feels it all in his core. The life thriving in such an unforgiving environment. Kent knows he has the power to thrive too.

 

Each little grain of the salt falling on the dirt makes him feel more and more sure of this--sure of himself. There aren’t anymore tears in his eyes. He envisions this Forget Me Not never germinating. He sees it staying buried with no chance to thrive, like Kent knows he will without all this hurting him each day. 

  
This love won’t grow and further. He’s stunting it in its place so he can breathe again. Kent’s giving himself what he needs to get over this and move on with his life. This little plastic flower pot sitting in the corner of his patio never quite forgotten is the rare rain in the desert that helps his prickly self thrive in this new life. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Please let me know what you think in the comments and kudos are greatly appreciated! <3  
> Feel free to come find me on tumblr: [softkent](http://softkent.tumblr.com/)


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